Grrl Power #275 – Wake up call
The rather spirited debate about Vehemence and the direction of the fight continued in the comments for the last page, I’m sure this one will only add to it. Again I want to reiterate that the whole fight isn’t rebooting at this point despite what it looks like. I mean… you know, pretend it is so you get that “ooh how ever will they survive?” vibe and all that.
I think the tail end of the battle is bumping up against the weakness of the webcomic format, which is that a bi-weekly posting schedule makes it feel like a bit of a slog. It’s only been three pages since Vehemence regenerated his arm. In webcomic time that’s a week and a half, in comic book time, that’s maybe 30 seconds to turn each page.
After I drew this page it occurred to me that there’s probably no way Harem didn’t see the wave coming. One of her big strengths is being able to view a battlefield from multiple angles simultaneously. Right now she’s at a slightly reduced capacity though. The strawberry blonde “default” one had her wrist broken by Vekter’s rock chucking antics, so she’s currently in un-teleported limbo. It will definitely suck for her when she re-teleports that one cause for her it will be the instant after her wrist was broken. Another of her is probably rummaging around the Archon Armory looking for something that might help with Vehemence.
It’s easy to forget that information we as readers take for granted isn’t omnisciently shared among everyone in the comic. Even I forgot for a while that Sydney and Harem don’t know about Maxima’s power pool – remember it’s classified info and it’s way above their pay grade. Sydney barely even has a pay grade at this point.
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome which I can’t live without anymore, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
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And then we could also find out that Peggy reloaded with bullets provided by the Arc Mage Researcher that are magic disruptive… Blamm, no arm. No regeneration –V: “Ah, time to go! Retreat!” I mean they _were_ preparing in case Dabbler went off the ranch right?
As to the anti-magic bullets, I could very well see ArcDark having something like that at their disposal. The bullets probably wouldn’t come cheap and would mostly likely require a lot of time. As to working on V, I doubt they would since he’s not a supernatural entity. His regeneration has stopped, though such a weapon could potentially prevent further regeneration (of that wound anyway).
Also, typically when you have such specialized anti-X bullets, unless they’re anti-tank, they are not meant for raw explosive power. They’re meant to do something specific besides kaboom.
DaveB has confirmed that there’s no such thing in this universe yet. Nothing that can negate powers.
I believe Larqua’s comment was meant for here.
I will add that, obviously, there are some people who have manifested power-nullification powers, which suggests that a technological or magical solution might be possible. Anybody remember FWTDT draining Anvil’s stored kinetic energy? Not the energy of her attack, mind you- the energy she had stored inside of her body via means of her powers. Saying that isn’t a power-draining attack is, at best, semantics.
Disrupt not nullify. Use your words.
As in make control turn into lack thereof.
And he said general. This is pretty specific.
Spells isn’t powers albeit spell casting might be.
EX: An Emp pulse disrupts electrical devices but does not prevent anyone from making such a device.
Not trolling. Not missing. Just being obnoxiously specific.
Missing == dissing
I believe he’s confirmed that there’s no omnimagical “This eliminates all powers entirely” kind of jail or handcuffs, that doesn’t mean there can’t be ones that can specifically target certain powers.
Actually a variant of the “use Sydney’s shield to suffocate him” idea might actually work. Depending on where his power pool is located, ie is it stored in his body via the markings are the markings merely reacting to and allowing him to utilize the ambient level of violence, it is entirely possible that Sydney’s shield could effectively cut off almost his entire power pool. After all it does block teleportation and they never checked to see if Dabblers lust aura penetrated it. More food for the eventual power discovery/training/experimentation and exposition montage I guess.
What if by wrapping herself (Sydney), Maxima and V _only_ it cuts off his supply of Vehemic energy aside from Maxima…? Try to do that on a triple A sucker.
She can’t put it through a person.
Stop trying to weaponize the shield for now, seriously.
Actually, I don’t think that’s what he was suggesting; I think he was suggesting that V’s current seeming unending supply of vehemic energy is actually because he can suck up the energy lingering in the atmosphere and, if Sydney were to entrap him within the field- even though it would mean trapping her in there with him- he would be severely weakened.
While I admit I find this scenario unlikely- how does vehemic energy linger, after all- it would be a semi-plausible way to depower V.
Well, until he punched Sydney once and she exploded into red mist.
Yeah, that thought has been brought up. I think that’s why Scotto was suggesting wrapping the bubble around Vehemence, Sydney, and Maxima- on the theory that the vehemic energy retained from Maxima would be considerably less than the energy he needed to defeat her- or even mildly inconvenience her.
As I say, this is all just conjecture and, frankly, I think Sydney would have to be suicidal to try it (and, until now, she’s never been portrayed as such), but it is a valid theory.
Remember the Embiggener! -and Flight which he does not have. To go after Sydney he has to let go of Max, and that itself could be the point of doing it that way.
Whisakedjak got it petty much right, with the minor exception that rather than “sucking up” the energy he is merely manipulating it. Also it only occurred to me after I posted that Sydney might use the tentacle orb to create a lattice grid (doubling back repeatedly and braced against the shield wall) in order to protect her from V.
As an alternative shape she might make what amounts to a bouncy ball (closely resembling a rubber band ball or a ball of yarn) and she could just bounce around the interior of the shield with him until they both run out of air and pass out together, leaving the rest of the team to cuff him etc. Who knows, Sydney may just invent/inspire a new amusement park ride while she is at it/bouncing around.
Dabbler herself may reluctantly use her Coil Gun and note it was designed to blow up asteroids –that were magically targeted and propelled. IE the gun also disrupts magic spells and such.
I mean we DID see the Coil Gun in the first act right?
You mean the railgun right?
This has nothing to do with the current update, but I was doing an archive trawl when I reached the second round of the math/halo battle, where he ised her orbs against her. Think he could come up with a martial art that uses those orbs for physical combat when she cant just shield or blast? It occurs to me that having another 7 avenues of attack and defense in addition to the usual arms and legs could make for a really effective close combat style. Obviously thats a really long term project that would likely take a couple eyars to get really decent at, but still an interesting thought.
Yeah , was also thinking along those lines. Suppose they made her elevator shoes that had ball sized sockets for the two unknowns. She could then hover in place while juggling away from flight to fire a PPO with shield up by standing on the no-names… The appearance of a kick when she just tells them to spin around the locus of her hip. Dodging up away from attacks. This also could work by swapping in the telepresence ball which isn’t really combat high use if one of the others gets “outed”.
So… anybody know what the green eye-shaped things are in the second to last panel?
Go back to one of the earlier pages in this fight, when the team of villains attacked our heroes…one of them could fling those booger-things.
My guess (and I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned this) is that V’s only real power is the ability to make people believe him. So if he wants them to think that he can regenerate lost limbs, they will. If he wants Maxima to believe that electricity drains her powers (when she’d know that it doesn’t), she will.
The real V is probably sitting off in a tree somewhere nearby, projecting these illusions into everyone’s heads and laughing his ass off.
Done right, that would be awesome and funny.
Done wrong, it would be a ham-fisted “it was all just a dream after all” ending.
So the growth is more of a shifting his center of mass target up and away from his braines? Shifty thinking my precious. It trickses us! Them and their nasty wobbitses.
One man can save the day!
For whom the death tolls!
**yawn**
We know that Maxima is alive and well and that she shows not the slightest scar from this encounter. No hugging, no learning. The comic about nothing.
So it could have ended months/years ago for all the suspense which is supposedly occurring right now.
Oh noes, the villain freed all of the other unconscious villains (and heroes), so he’ll power up and kill MarySuemixa!
**yawn** Nope, she is alive and well.
There is literally no point in continuing this any longer.
Maybe Halo figures out another orb and takes him down in what many have called a Deus ex machina, but I’d rather call a misplaced Chekhov’s gun.
Maybe Halo uses her comic book knowledge to find a way to win.
Maybe Halo uses her force field to suffocate him.
Maybe For Whom the Death Tolls is used to drain him.
Maybe Telaportrix sends him to the Moon, or Iran, or whatever.
Maybe V suddenly learns the errors of his ways and wanders off to do no evil no more.
Maybe some Deus ex machina occurs which takes V down.
Maybe some other thing happens which leaves him as a recurring villain.
But who cares at this point? Not I. End this.
Of course conversely, ANYBODY not in that flash forward or whatever CAN die.
Hey wait. That includes Dabbler, Harem(s), and Jiggawatt! No way Hosea, not liking that direction.
YOU MADE ME LOOK And now I am cursed to reread the whole thing again….. again … again
Okay I’m back (speed reader). :)
Its OK if they die ,are maimed horribly or dealt serious psychological damage. Maxima, Sydney, Anvil and Stalwart are gonna be fine. That’s the main thing. ;)
“Maybe Telaportrix sends him to the Moon, or Iran, or whatever.”
For some reason I found that sentence hilarious.
Technically he noted there are no -universal- power dampener/nullifiers. That still leaves room for specialized ones. Anti psionic, anti magic, etc.
Oh for… Was supposed to be a reply. Ah well.
I just realized, Vehemence first appeared in this fight back on page 218. He was the one poking Dabbler’s sword when it got stuck in a tree.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1358
I call https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1280 last frame, by the tree on the right. Granted, You could dispute who that is … Might just be John Q Public-Flasher in the trench coat.
I don’t count that as his first appearance mainly because when I think ‘since Vehemence’ – I mean since he actually got into the fight.
I absolutely love all this. It’s brilliant, really, as a way to introduce all the players in the comic at once. For everyone saying that V is an all-powerful god, there’s just one tiny weakness: he can’t be alone. Also, when he’s not powered up, he’s not that powerful at all. Think about it… that’s an amazingly inconvenient weakness. Heck, I don’t think Dave’s even showed us all his powers yet and that’s STILL a very limiting weakness! I’m betting even while un-powered he has some sort of permanence that makes him very difficult (if not impossible) to permanently kill. Vanquish/defeat? Yes. Kill? No. Kinda like Starscream. The vehemic energy lives on (or some such).
I really like the “Gentleman Brawler” aspect, too. He’s much more “Hey, chap, care for a scrap?” than anything. He’s only seriously threatening Maxima because she’s trying to block all that. Kind of a neat vibe for a villain, particularly here. You could even see him playing the good guy once in a while in future story arcs, should it suit him. The only thing I don’t like is the definition of violence. I would like it much better if intent were required. Earthquakes and tornadoes? Lots of energy being released, but it’s intent-less. I would think he’d get way more juiced up attending a session of the UK House of Commons, for example, even on days when they don’t end up brawling. :) Also, armed robbery? I’d go with that being violent (and tasty for him) even though no one actually got hurt.
Anyway, so here we are with all the characters introduced and Vehemence’s souped-up power level established. Now all that remains is for Dave to write it to a neat conclusion where most of the villain squad is free and Vehemence is banished somehow to a place where his power can slowly return to normal. I can think of many ways he might do this, but I prefer not to speculate. It’s kinda like guessing your Christmas present, ya know? Not my style. Once things quiet down, you can imagine many many story arcs where the team has to fight some villains or another, all while keeping an eye out to make sure V isn’t powering up again (because he’ll learn from this escapade and won’t be tricked/beaten the same way again). This maintains his threat lurking and a nice SUPER supervillian for the future.
You know what I’m scared of? Dave getting snatched up for a print comic. His art is among the best now, his writing is top notch, he has a great feel for comic physics… crap, it’s only a matter of time. I’m actually thinking of writing into some of my favorites to see if they’d hire him for a guest series. He’d write the hell out of TMNT, for instance…
DO not send DaveB into that purgatory that is one set of breasts per book. O’Neil (sp?) is cute and all but that is like picking the artist that does transformers so well for the My Little Pony Marathon… Girl Turtle? Na-Na-na-Na I can’t hear your –Na-na-Na didn’t happen -Na-na Na.
The new IDW series is actually pretty egalitarian. April, Karai, and Renet are there, of course, but there’s been a lot of development of Angel/Nobody, Kitsune, and Alopex among others. I think you’re right in some respects… Dave has been doing great with the humans but mutants would be a different thing. Meh. Still would like to see the attempt. I think he’s more than boobs, for sure.
Did you mean Megatron/Galvatron and not Starscream?
Nah. In the original series, Starscream was such a popular scheming, irritating patsy that they brought him back as a ghost or something after he was killed by Galvatron in the movie.
Jeez… turtles and transformers. Dating myself much?
Ah, I thought you were just referencing the live actions movies and not anything of the universe that was actually good, and I had forgotten the bit about them bringing Starscream back as a ghost.
After all this time, League of Legends finally comes to my aid to explain the current situation.
“Pls report my team for feeding Vehemence. BG.”
Come on I wanna see the new comic page before I have to head to school!
Now that the argument over whether Vehemence is overpowered has moved to the next page I want to address what Dave says about Harem. Why on earth would she reteleport her injured body back in when her power is to create a body elsewhere without having to destroy the original, it would be much less painful to just duplicate the blond and redye her hair pink. Except that of course what Harem really wants to do it store a copy of whichever body is her favorite in unteleported state and only bring it back out for a few seconds every decade or so. Having to make do with only four bodies would be a small price to pay for becoming effectively immortal. Depending on what limits Dave has or hasn’t put on her powers she potentially has all sorts of insanely powerful side benefits to what looks at first glance like a fairly straightforwards powerset.
Once again, Vehemence showing off that subtle nerdiness that makes me love ‘im.